Royal Polaris has finished up a good trip into the southern waters with owner-skipper Frank LoPreste at the helm. Accurate owner Jack Nilsen was also aboard, with plenty of heavy-duty rods and reels for those who wanted to try them. Here’s Frank’s report from February 22:

“Weather was absolutely perfect warm sunny and flat calm. Fishing was quite good. We started in the gray with 12 yellowfin tuna in the 50-pound category, and then scratched the rest of the day another 24 fish that were all from 160 to 190 pounds. We had fish boiling around the boat most of the day. It was difficult to get a bite, but when you did it was a nice fish.

“It is pretty sensational that here at the end of February one can still catch these beautiful fish just 600 miles from San Diego. Our group is quite happy and content and all will be flying home.

"The Royal Polaris will arrive in San Diego on February 26th at 08:45 hours.”

Underwater And In Your Face

A visit to the Spectrum IMAX theatre in Irvine last weekend for a friends and family showing of Howard and Michele Hall’s new IMAX movie was fun and enlightening.

As with all of Howard’s many undersea films, “Under The Sea 3D” gets close up and personal with many unusual creatures. Some haven’t been seen so well before.

The fish and other denizens of the deep look like you could touch them, because of the 1300-pound, giant dual-camera IMAX in 3D rig Howard has to struggle with 100 feet below the surface.

“We’re not Hollywood people masquerading as divers,” said Howard to the audience in his pre-showing remarks last Sunday. “We’re professional divers, moonlighting in film.”

Costs of IMAX production are staggering, and Howard had to adjust his thinking about when to pull the trigger on the shutters. At $60 per second, with three-minute rolls of film, things need to be just right before shooting. There’s no zooming the lens or chasing fish at high speed. Howard told us about a six-hour underwater wait for a stonefish to make a grab at a small fish passing by. Finally the stonefish lunged, and missed the quarry. We saw the miss, and the disgruntled ambusher settle back into the silt.

A school of striped catfish moves toward the camera, rolling over itself from rear to front as the tiny fish feed along the bottom. In the IMAX film you can see each fish’s position in the school, and darn near every mark or stripe on the little swimmers. It’s fascinating stuff, and right in your face.

“We set up the camera so if a fish looks like it’s three feet from your face, it’s about the same distance from the camera,” said Howard. Schools of bait and jacks take on a whole new look as they swirl before the huge double lenses.

Cuttlefish make for some intense viewing, as we see how they feed, mate and interact with one another, communicating in a code of colors and stripes that move like TV images across the skin of the cephalopods. We see squid, too. All of these give up their lives to procreate, and we see them guarding their eggs during their last moments.

If you haven’t seen IMAX before, this might be a good time to take the family for a very enjoyable viewing and an undersea experience you can’t get anywhere else. The film will be playing for some time at the Irvine Spectrum 21 and IMAX theatres. Check it out in Irvine at 65 Fortune Dr. in Irvine: (949) 450-4920.